Spring has arrived! And with its arrival we took a short hiatus
for some Spring cleaning. We have The Sunshine Grove office looking organized,
lots to add to the shop and some great vintage finds that have sparked future
blog posts. We are excited for what’s to come.
I thought I’d share a quick how to for guava shells and
marmalade. Their peak season ends this month so hurry to your local farmer’s
market or Latin food store for a delicious and flavor packed dessert.
At my parent’s house after ice cream, guava is the most
common dessert. Sometimes it is served as a paste over a slice of cheese, as
guava shells with cream cheese or just the fruit itself from the tree. This
time of year my grandparent’s guava tree gives fruit by the bag that family and
friends gladly take. My grandfather suggested I try to make guava shells and
marmalade since we had some extra mason jars around the house. Having never
made them before I sought some guidance from a great uncle who gave some tips
on the marmalade and a god father who gave me the run down on making the guava
shells.
After my grandfather dropped off a grocery bag full of pink guavas
I went to work. The prep time is pretty long as you have to peel the guavas,
slice them in half and then spoon out the inside pulp and seeds. Some of the
guavas were overly ripe so we don’t have perfect shells, but ended up being
tasty anyway. We also had white guavas from our neighbor and decided to make
some shells from those and mixed the pulp in with the pink guavas.
I put 2 large pots to boil and pulled out a large wok for
the pulp. Jeremy helped me stir up the pulp until it started to be runny and
then we transferred a few large spoonfuls into the colander so we had a nice
red paste that was seed free. We added a heaping cup of sugar to the paste and
let it simmer. Once it thickened up we jarred it and let it cool.
Once the other 2 pots were boiling we added the pink and the
white shells each to a pot and let them soften. Since the pink shells are much
smaller those went soft pretty quickly. We drained the water (saving it) and
then put them back in the pot with 3 cups of the saved boiling water and added 2
cups of sugar, simmering until the simple syrup thickened up. Once the white
guavas were soft we did the same but used a bit less water and sugar since
there were less in volume.
The big grocery bag
of guavas didn’t make as much shells or marmalade as we thought but it’s just
enough for us all to taste and enjoy after dinner!
Make your own guava shells and paste:
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| Spring in full bloom at the Grove |
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| YUM! Ready to eat. |
